2.5 Days in Nashville
Isn’t it funny how cities become synonymous with certain things? Los Angeles: celebrities. Miami: beautiful people. New York: rude people. Las Vegas: bachelor/bachelorettes.
Who decided Vegas was the ultimate place to go before tying the knot? It’s hard to think of a city where you cant’t find a great bar scene, and when you’re with all your best friends, anywhere can be fun (cough cough, Syracuse, cough cough).
Nashville was on the short list for where we wanted to take Sarah for her birthday and our itinerary ended up being a great mix of tourist traps and hidden gems. We weren’t rushing from location to location and were able to add and edit plans as more items of interest came up. If you have a limited time down there like we did, this might be a helpful starting point for building your own Nashville guide.
We found Nashville to be a really walkable city and walked whenever we could. If we walked to the location, I indicated with a W; if we took a ride share, I indicated with an L (since we only used Lyft); if we arrived via the hop-on, hop-off trolley tour, I used a TT.
Day 1
Everyone arrived at the airport by 12:30pm and we took a Lyft straight to our hotel, the Comfort Inn Downtown on Demonbreun. A word on our hotel: it was not swanky. Us McCarthy’s are not swanky folk. A bed and bathroom is all we need, since we’re there to sleep and shower. It wasn’t gross, it was just dated. The staff was friendly and helpful and the free continental breakfast included Belgian waffles and an omelet station, plus the location was ideal, so we would definitely stay there again.
-Lunch: Peg Leg Porker BBQ (W)
-Vanderbilt University (W)
-Café Coco (W)
Regarding the heat levels: two of my sisters got medium, one got hot and I got damn hot. I like spicy food and didn’t find the damn hot unbearable (I don’t know if this is because Hattie B’s is designed more for tourists?), but it was all very good.
Day 2
-Ryman Auditorium Tour (W) – we did the backstage tour, which included the self-guided tour
-Trolley Tour – our first time on the tour, we started at the first stop and did a whole loop to see what piqued our interest and if we could use the trolley to get us to other places on our itinerary
-Goo Goo Cluster shop (W)
-Tennessee State Museum (TT) – we drove by this on the bus tour and were interested in going back, since we like history and it was free. It was as dim and depressing as a dungeon and a total snoozefest; don’t make the same mistake we did.
-Hotel pregaming (W)
-Broadway/Honky Tonks (L)
We spent the most time at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Nudie’s Honky Tonk and Tequila Cowboy and took a Lyft back to the hotel at the end of the night.
Day 3
-Belmont Mansion Tour (TT)
-Capitol Hill (TT)
-Farmer’s Market stroll and food court lunch (W)
-Rent bikes and ride around Bicentennial Park - the bike rental station was right outside the farmers market
-Hotel for birthday surprises before dinner (TT)
-Pedestrian Bridge (L) - very cool view of the city all lit up at night
-Union Station Hotel Lobby (W) - this was an old train station, so the lobby is very grand and beautiful, most of which the hotel left as is
The Lyft from the airport was $17 and some change and was by far the priciest; all the other ones came in under $10. Ride shares are convenient, but walking is the best way to explore a new city, so we opted to walk unless it was too far or raining too hard.
If country music is a huge priority for you, you probably want to include the Grand Ole Opry or the Country Music Hall of Fame to take precedent on your list. With us, the focus is more about where can we find the best deals and make the biggest nuisance of ourselves. The answer? Almost anywhere.
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